


Every Little Thing

by xoxoMouse



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Camp Jupiter, Cannonverse, Canon Compliant, Clarisse is fat don't even read if you're picturing her skinny, Date Night, Dealing With Trauma, Established Relationship, F/F, Femslash, Fluff, HoO - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, New Rome, PJO, They love taking care of and reassuring each other, ToA - Freeform, chb, clareyna, mention of past bullying, picnic date, short and sweet, soft, sunset, they're such sweet girlfriends!!!, wlw, yeah it's not heavy but bullying can cause trauma and idk I wrote this to acknowledge it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26040424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoxoMouse/pseuds/xoxoMouse
Summary: Sometimes when you've been hurt before certain things can make you uneasy, even if they're not actually dangerous anymore. It helps to have someone by your side when it happens. Or, Clarisse is still uneasy around large groups of boys because of past bullying. Reyna reassures her.
Relationships: Clarisse La Rue/Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Every Little Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Clarisse is fat don't even read if you're gonna picture her skinny.

Reyna knew Clarisse as well as she knew herself, if not better. That’s what being hopelessly, desperately in love did to her: she noticed every little thing about Clarisse. She knew her favorite color was maroon, she knew her left knee got sore right before it rained, and she  _ knew  _ that very few things on this Earth made Clarisse uneasy. That was why she was worried about her right now.

It was date night. They’d both had classes that morning so they were doing a sunset picnic in one of New Rome's parks (The one with the best view of the Western sky, Reyna assured.) Hoagies, an assortment of veggies and two thermoses of Clarisse’s Nana’s famous iced tea were laid out on a classic red and white flannel picnic blanket. They were under a beautiful old tree with spade-shaped leaves so big that Clarisse had plucked two of them from a low hanging branch and plopped them on  top of their heads like sun hats. Their fingers were brushing where they laid on the soft blanket and Clarisse was laughing that full-belly laugh that Reyna loved so much.

There was a slapping of a basketball against the blacktop a couple of yards away. Clarisse’s fingers twitched, She sat up a little straighter and the hint of a crease appeared between her eyebrows before smoothing out again just as quickly. Reyna followed her girlfriend’s gaze to the boys who had just entered the park.

She hadn’t expected anyone to be here so close to dark but when she saw the boys it made a little more sense. There were six of them and they were older teens, a couple of years younger than her and Clarisse. Old enough to crave adventure and still too young to go out and seek it; a rough and tumble ball game would have to suffice for now. They seemed harmless enough. But something was still off with Clarisse.

“Do you want to move?” Reyna asked.

Clarisse nodded and put the wrappers of their supper and their new hats back into the wicker basket they’d brought. They were done eating anyway. 

About fifteen yards away from the blacktop was a set of swings. Not so far that they couldn’t hear the boys playing on but private enough that if any of them had cared to listen, they wouldn’t be able to hear Reyna and Clarisse’s conversation.

The swings were spaced just right for hand-holding and the two of them swayed lightly, looking up at the sky. The clouds were light and fluffy and Reyna knew they’d shift through a thousand different shades of orange and pink before all the stars came out for the night. The pollen would make her sneeze later but it was worth it to smell the grass and the fresh air mingling, everything cooling off after a day of hot sun. 

Over on the blacktop someone laughed and Clarisse’s fingers tensed around hers just the slightest. Maybe she was overthinking the little twitches but usually, Clarisse was so still, so sure of everything around her.

“You alright?” 

Her nervous eyes confirmed Reyna’s intuition. 

“It’s stupid,” She answered. 

“Tell me anyway?”

Clarisse looked away. The soft brush of their feet in the rivets of earth beneath the swing and the distant padding of the basketball were the only noises for a moment before she answered. 

“I’m just uneasy around groups of them. Ones I don’t know. I’m not  _ scared  _ or anything. I just don’t like to let my guard down in case anything goes wrong,” she admitted.

“Groups of boys?”

“Yeah.”

Reyna was well aware that Clarisse was aware that the two of them could take out an entire legion, just the two of them. They could take care of themselves. Instinct didn’t always remember that, though.

Reyna nodded solemnly. “What happened?”

Clarisse could bite her lip ragged when she was stressed. Her teeth were working hard on it now. “Just some bad experiences. Kids can be cruel and I couldn’t always take care of myself.” She shrugged. “I should be over it by now.”

Reyna remembered. She’d grown a lot in the last few years but the feeling of helplessness was like a bad cold sore; it would never disappear entirely no matter what you did to try to cure it. You could train and evolve and do everything right and there would still be things that could trigger that hidden vulnerability you tried so hard to repress.

“I get it,” she said. “It’s hard to deal with.”

The sun was just barely peeking over the trees now. They both had their eyes aimed up at the sky, taking in the shadow and depth of each of the clouds as the refracted light turned them into a menagerie of color and warmth.

“It’ll never happen again, though,” Reyna promised. “Not while I’m around.”

Clarisse blew out a laughing breath and the corners of her mouth pulled up. The dimple on her right cheek eased Reyna’s soul just to see it. They sat in silence, hand in hand as the sun went down and then walked back to their apartment, shoulders brushing along the way. Their lives would never be perfect, but they were together. Always together.


End file.
